Meet the Student Ambassadors

Mental Health and Wellbeing at SCA

Almost 2 in 10 students aged 11-16 have an identifiable mental health condition – which rises to 1 in 5 among 17-22 year olds. Problems are often hidden, stigma is still widespread, and many young people are not receiving support to access services. Secondary schools have a vital role to play in supporting young people’s mental health. Schools can develop young people’s social and emotional skills, and help those students who are having difficulties get the support they need. 

 

Salford City Academy's Vision 

We aspire to become a mentally healthy school: one that adopts a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing. Our whole-school approach will involve all parts of the school working together and being committed. We will develop partnership working between senior leaders, teachers and all school staff, as well as students, parents, carers and the wider community. 

 

As part of the Thrive in Education model, we will provide targeted support for young people's emotional health and wellbeing. This model offers a co-ordinated response with multi agency joint working and a dedicated ‘mental health support team’ (MHST). The model was developed in response to the Mental Health in Education Green Paper.


Salford City Academy's Mental Health Lead is Mrs Laura Dawson, Assistant Principal - SEND & Wellbeing. Please email laura.dawson@salfordcity-academy.org if you have any questions or comments.

 

Salford City Academy Mental Health & Wellbeing Initiatives and Interventions - Our Offer

  • Student Wellbeing Ambassadors – 15 voluntary members across Y7-11 
  • Staff Wellbeing Committee – 17 voluntary members across both teaching and support staff 
  • #BeeWell - we are excited to participate in this wellbeing measurement and improvement framework for secondary schools in Greater Manchester. Experts from The University of Manchester and the Anna Freud Centre are working with leaders from Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the city-region’s secondary schools on a major new project that will survey children in Y8 & 10 about their wellbeing and preparedness for life beyond school, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • School Mental Health Award - we are delighted to have made a pledge to achieve this nationally recognised award. The award ensures schools are using evidence-based approaches that align to professional and government guidelines. Utilising a developmental framework, the Academy will evaluate current mental health practices, identify gaps, develop and strengthen these and work towards building an emotionally healthier environment. Through this process, the Academy will commit to making mental health a strategic priority and developing a positive culture that promotes mental wellbeing for everyone. 
  • Emotionally Friendly Schools - SCA are committed to this flexible, whole-school approach designed to improve children's mental health and wellbeing. It is supported by Salford Educational Psychology Service. The focus is on four key areas: Staff Wellbeing and School Ethos, Classroom Practice, Assessing Children's Needs, Supporting Individual Children. 
  • Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) pathway - Collaboration between the following services will offer support to school staff, parents, and young people who are struggling to attend school: Education Welfare Service, Early Help Team, Educational Psychology Service, Primary Inclusion Team (PIT), CAMHS (including IReach), Place2Be and 42nd Street
  • In-school counselling - students can be referred for emotional support via their Inclusion Leader
  • Anger Management – small group intervention which runs weekly for a 6 week period 
  • Positive Minds – building self esteem and/ or anxiety management - small group intervention which runs weekly for a 6 week period
  • Bespoke tutor time support – as required 
  • Friendship Club / Games Club - offered to Y7 & 8 every lunchtime - provides a safe and nurturing indoor space supervised by a member of our teaching assistant team
  • Aspire programme - weekly Wellbeing Club  and Kindness Club, where specific students are targeted for additional nurture and support
  • Other key partners: 42nd Street, Salford CAMHS, Early Help, iReach, Place2Be, Salford Educational Psychology Service, City Wall

All students that access the small group interventions are baselined using the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire (students, parent, teacher views). These are repeated at the end of the 6 week intervention to assess impact. 


Student Wellbeing Ambassadors 

Main responsibilities:

  • Promoting awareness and sharing information with students and staff regarding key events on the Mental Health & Wellbeing Calendar 
  • Leading World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Week assemblies to all students  
  • Collaborative planning with Staff Wellbeing Committee regarding joint fundraising and whole school initiatives (including development of a Wellbeing Offer for both staff and students) 
  • Supporting identified students (training via Ms Bell – School Counsellor) 
  • Engagement in the Peer to Peer Support programme in liaison with IYSS (more info to be confirmed Autumn 2 term) 
  • Signposting students to additional support as required (post box, QR codes, social media drives and development of website) 
  • Communicating with Ms Haselden and Senior Leaders to share barriers and solutions to promoting whole school mental health awareness and wellbeing 

  • On Sunday 10th October, we recognised and celebrated World Mental Health Day. This year's theme was 'Mental Health in an Unequal World', and our Wellbeing Ambassadors led a week of assemblies to highlight the importance of good mental health for all. The ambassadors were absolutely fantastic in their delivery to whole school - exemplary student leaders! 

 

  • 07th October - We raised £884.95 in October for Youngminds  by taking part in their #Helloyellow day. Staff and students wore yellow to raise awareness for the charity and the work they do to support young people and their mental health. We also brought back sponge a teacher by popular demand to help with the fundraising.

 

 

  • September 2021 - Salford City Academy are proud to announce that there are currently fifteen Student Wellbeing Ambassadors across years 7-11 and seventeen members of the Staff Wellbeing Committee. These teams work collaboratively to promote awareness of mental health and wellbeing across the Academy and our wider school community. The first event that we recognised this academic year was National Suicide Prevention Day on the 10th September. A presentation was shared with all tutor groups, as well as updates to our Academy Instagram and Facebook pages. 

10 Ways to Find Support with Children and Young Peoples Mental Health - Click here to see what external agencies can provide additonal support.

 

Parent Online Courses

All parents can take advantage of FREE access to our Creative Education community membership. Simply click on the provided link and register with an email address and password of your choice to access over 80 online courses. These courses cover a wide range of topics including mental health and wellbeing, anxiety, autism, ADHD, bereavement and many more: 

https://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/add-yourself-to-your-school-or-colleges-membership/?ca=a8cf0a855e8fcebf707f67a67345cfef
We hope you will find this a useful resource. We would love to hear any feedback about courses you complete. You can access these courses immediately and membership is available right through until September 2022.

 

Useful Links

Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) Information for parents and carers

Find Help For My Child's Mental Health | Parents | YoungMinds

Mental health during childhood and adolescence is very important. Difficulties like anxiety and depression can start when people are young and it is important for young people and their families to understand these difficulties and get support when needed.

 

The PIPA Trial is exploring the effectiveness of an online resource for parents/carers to help reduce depression and anxiety in young people. The trial is being coordinated by the University of Warwick and involves families of young people aged 11-15 years from schools in the UK.

 

The trial is free and conducted completely online. Eligible parents/carers and young people will be asked to complete some questionnaires. Parents/carers will then receive access to some online parenting resources: either the standard educational package of factsheets or the personalised programme with up to nine modules. Parents/carers and young people will also be asked to complete some follow-up questionnaires.

 

Please look out for the letter about how to sign up which also contains some information sheets with more details. If you have any questions, please speak to Mrs L Dawson or contact the PIPA trial team at PIPA@warwick.ac.uk or 02476574316/02476575078.

External Partners

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